Concerning drill dates in the reserves, is it possible to attend and make up drills back to back. Also, is it possible to make up drills ahead of time. For instance, doing 24 days (not annual training) in the summer to cover that entire fiscal year?
i could have sworn i had seen something on the internet indicating that a reservist could do that...
IF your unit allows it. There are also MANDATORY drill weekends for GMT once or twice a year. Don't count on being able to do it all the time. If you are BC/BTM/BO/Coxn qualed, it won't work as you can't keep up the required time.
The Coast Guard can be very flexible. I've seen a lot of personnel block their drills together and come to the unit 3 or 4 times a year rather than monthly attendance. However, the ability to do so is going to vary dramatically with the needs of the unit and the command's preference. Some units prefer to have Reservists drill during the week rather than the weekend.
Pretty much what everyone here has said holds -- the degree of flexibility depends largely upon your unit and your rating. For example, you might be at a small boat station that is loaded with BM reserves, but only a couple of electronics guys and you happen to be one of them. That means that the BM guys will probably have a little more flexibility than you since it's easier to replace their skill set. Also, certain units always drill together, making flexibility much more difficult.
On the whole, the CGR is typically very flexible on a short term basis, but long term stuff like what you mentioned is getting pretty rare. They want you to drill on a regular basis to keep you sharp, so that if the CG needs to activate you, you are good to go.
